This is an update to a story first reported on December 15, 2011, Click here.

Norfolk Southern is moving forward with plans to expand operations at its Rutherford Intermodal Facility near Harrisburg, Pa., after the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $15 million TIGER III grant to the project.

The $60.5 million project, expected to finish in 2014, will help NS meet growing demand for intermodal freight transportation in the Harrisburg region. When completed, expanded operations could result in about 400 new direct and indirect jobs in Swatara Township and the surrounding Dauphin County community, in addition to construction jobs beginning as early as 2012.

"Growing demand for intermodal rail transportation means more jobs for the Harrisburg region and fewer long-distance trucks on congested interstate highways," said Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman. "This project and the TIGER grant will help Norfolk Southern meet that demand and provide a boost to the local economy. Expanding the Rutherford Intermodal Facility will result in tremendous economic development for Central Pennsylvania, as well as environmental benefits. Railroad locomotives can move one ton of freight 484 miles per gallon of fuel. That's 75 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared with moving freight by truck.

When completed, the Rutherford project will:

• Add about 400 permanent jobs to the local economy. These include crane operators, truck drivers, and service industry employees.

• Expand intermodal capacity by 50 percent.

• Alleviate traffic problems on Grayson Road and Mushroom Hill Road by moving the Triple Crown Services truck entrance about a mile east to avoid a private grade crossing.

The Rutherford expansion is one of three significant economic projects Norfolk Southern has slated for Central Pennsylvania. The other two are a new $96.9 million intermodal facility under construction near Greencastle in Franklin County and a $28 million expansion of operations at the Harrisburg intermodal terminal on Industrial Road.